Should I fix my mx-3

[OROutdoors]

Okay, so I bought a 93 mx-3 a few weeks ago with the intent of fixing it up as a rally car. I knew it had left-front-end damage. I looked underneath, the "frame" looked straight, so I thought it was just cosmetic. I bought the car, took it home. It started raining over the last few days. I got into it and the seat went squish. Ick. It was about that time that I realized that the car was being stored in car port by the previous owner.

Now, I looked closer at the top of the door and the roof. I had prevously missed a very small bend on the roof above the driver's door, bulging the opening up about a cm. So now this car is going to leak everytime it rains unless I fix the roof. I can't imagine the straightening a roof is going to be either easy or cheap. Suddenly this car is seeming like it is less and less of a bargain.

I'm considering: fixing it; stripping it and keeping the parts, selling the chassis; or selling it as is and buying a different one. It is the 1.6L model, needs a new hood, fender, head lamp, and it idles high if the heater fan is on, otherwise it runs fine.

What other options could you think of? What would you do? Thanks in advance for your input,

Eric

[hharb]

did you pay over a $100 for it? if so slap yourself and say bad bad baaad lol, i dont know man let's see...

new hood = $50
fender = $40
head lamp = $15

engine idles high, only God knows how much that would cost to fix..

fixing the roof, now that a tough one, if you know how to fix it yourself, then that's not a big deal, if you don't it might cost u a couple hundreds, and well you're still driving a multicoloured car.. u might need to paint it, even a macco job will cost around 500$... and oh the engine still idles high.. don't forget it's 1.6 L right, so more problems to come, and i dont imagine it being fun to drive either... what about the condition of the other stuff? like the normal maintenance stuff, like brakes, rotors, tires etc... cuz well it all adds up my friend... and yeah don't forget that you might need alignment, that will cost u spme more money... if you think you can get it running flawless for under 2k or so (including the price of the car), then you got a deal, if not, just part it out, or keep it for parts. and know that you will come across a better deal, hopefully...

[Cy]

engine idles high, only God knows how much that would cost to fix..

Stopped reading your post after that one...Although it could be other things... It's most likely the alternator which is only a 200dollar part new...
The 1.6L has a stupid small alternator... 70amp if i remember correctly if you battery is fairly old and your alternator starts going(which they do)..Then you get some idle issues..
ESPECIALLY if you turn on the heater which is a 6amp fan...


Here's the VERY first thing you do... hook the car up to a 10amp battery charger/ booster... that'll give you 80amps with the car running and should probably smooth out that idle...

Then get like 3 cans of SeaFoam... put 1 in the crankcase 1 in the tank and use a cup and the break booster vaccume line and let the motor slowly suck it up...using the directions... It will clean out EVERY last bit of carbon from the combustion chamber and will clean up the sludge that's probably in the oil pan..

[hharb]

it was a figure of speech because the idiling problem could be caused by many things and it's hard to tell without having it inspected..

[Cy]

it was a figure of speech because the idiling problem could be caused by many things and it's hard to tell without having it inspected..

When you spend hours just playing with everything on a motor you end up learning alot about them...

Inspections cost money... Post an audio or Audio/Video clip of the motor idleing and rev it up a couple times...

Also... do the Ten/Gnd trick and see if your pulling any non-cel Codes..

[OROutdoors]

Okay, so I've progressed with my thoughts a little. The reason I bought this car was to have an mx-3 as a base platform for building an entry level rally car (as some of you may have read in other forums. One of the keys was that it should be inexpensive so I can afford more parts. Since this car's roof is something that I wasn't planning to deal with and will cost money, I'm going to abandon the car and look for another.

I took the car into the DEQ (in the Portland area, cars must pass an emissions test before being licensed). The car passed with flying colors. This speaks well for the engine. I will run compressions tests and vacuum test, then advertize on Craig's list or such, listing this car as a parts car with a good engine.

I paid $500 for the car (my girlfreind already dope-slaped me, thank you). Maybe I'll be able to get that much out of it. I think I will look for a replacement 1.8L v6 mx-3. As I understand it, much of the mechanical items are different between the cars, so I guess parting the car would only be useful to me if people wanted to buy parts instead of the whole car.

[OROutdoors]

Then again, body parts should be the same between the 1.8L and the 1.6L models. The wheels would be good to keep. Perhaps, I should part the car out, keep the parts I want and sell the rest. If the compression is good, I wonder how much the engine could go for.

I'd guess that most mechanical items are different between the two engine sizes. Does anyone know what sorts of things are the same between the two?

I appreciate your responses. Thanks in advance.

[hharb]

if you're looking on getting back what you paid for it, parting out would get you 500$ no problem. if you sell the car as a whole it might be a bit hard to sell since it's damaged and that's not what most buyers are looking for. i'd guess depending on the mileage on the engine you could sell it for like a $100 or so, I doubt many engine parts would be exchangable between the 1.6 and 1.8L. but yeah think of the body parts, interior stuff, those will go on most mx3s. anyway man, goodluck...

[Tropical Emerald 1993]

The 1.6L has a stupid small alternator... 70amp if i remember correctly if you battery is fairly old and your alternator starts going(which they do)..Then you get some idle issues..
ESPECIALLY if you turn on the heater which is a 6amp fan...

I thought I fixed it with idle screw but today when I used fog lights, heater and stereo it started to shake.

[OROutdoors]

Also... do the Ten/Gnd trick and see if your pulling any non-cel Codes..

I'm not familiar with the Ten/Gnd trick. I'm guessing you ground something and observe the results. Please explain more.

[cjthor]

There is a wrecking yard in Troutdale that does mazda..bought a few parst from them. http://www.maztoy.com i think.

[OROutdoors]

There is a wrecking yard in Troutdale that does mazda..bought a few parst from them. http://www.maztoy.com i think.

Yeah, I saw them on the list of autorecyclers when I was searching on car-parts.com. However, I saw that they are amoung the highest prices out there. So, you're in Portland? Perhaps we met at the CorkSport run to Mt. St. Helens this past March (was it in March?). I was driving a titanium Maxda3 which was nearly brand new.

[OROutdoors]

Mazda mx-3 mx3 93 for parts, good engine, 1.6L - $700 obo Tigard, OR

I decided to sell the mx-3 for parts. Here's my Craig's ad. If anyone is interested, please let me know. I don't have 30 posts yet, so I'll just add the this original thread.

I bought this mx-3 wanting to fix it up (it has a mangled left front fender and hood), but found out that the roof leaks (on to the driver's seat). The car is now in a garage. The roof is slightly buckled upward at the driver's door, hence the leak. The car passed DEQ last Saturday; the people there said it has very good emissions. The car has plenty of power, but the clutch slips. As far as I can tell, the body damage and the clutch are the only things wrong with the car.

I'm selling the car for parts, and feel this is a good price for a car which is mechanically sound. If you are interested in just the engine, I can pull it and sell it for $500. (Corksport, a local Mazda tuner, sells these for $1100 used, low miles.) This car has 180,000 miles on it; I'm certain that the engine must have been worked on or replaced because of the good compression and the clean burn.

Looking for offers --